AATCC Standards Guide: Textile Test Methods and Equipment

AATCC

AATCC publishes textile test methods, laboratory procedures, evaluation procedures, and monographs used for colorfastness, laundering, water resistance, moisture management, appearance change, weathering, and other textile-performance checks. It is widely referenced in apparel, home textiles, technical textiles, and floor-covering work where labs need textile-specific methods rather than general materials procedures.

For laboratories, mills, brands, and QA teams, AATCC documents often guide the choice of crockmeters, laundering equipment, hydrostatic pressure testers, moisture management instruments, spectrophotometers, weathering devices, and visual rating tools. They are especially useful when a specification calls for a recognized textile method with defined specimen handling and result interpretation.

AATCC Standards

AATCC is the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists. Founded in 1921, it develops textile test methods and related technical documents through committee-based standards work.

AATCC documents are used across the textile supply chain for product development, supplier qualification, quality control, comparative evaluation, and failure investigation involving fabrics, yarns, fibers, garments, and other textile products.

Quick Definition

AATCC is a textile-focused standards organization whose documents define recognized laboratory procedures for measuring color, care performance, water resistance, moisture behavior, weathering response, and other textile properties.

Why AATCC Standards Matter in Testing

AATCC methods matter because they give textile laboratories a common technical basis for preparing specimens, running controlled exposures, and evaluating results in a way that is specific to textile materials and end uses.

That is especially important when a buyer, brand, mill, or testing laboratory needs dependable data on rubbing fastness, wash fastness, hydrostatic resistance, moisture transport, wrinkle recovery, or appearance retention. In practical terms, an AATCC callout also helps narrow the equipment path, because a crocking method, a laundering method, a hydrostatic-pressure method, and a moisture-management method each point to different instruments and accessories.

Common Materials or Application Areas Covered

AATCC coverage is centered on textile materials and textile end products. The scope spans both traditional and performance-oriented applications.

Apparel fabrics and garments
Home textiles
Performance and comfort textiles
Woven, knit, and nonwoven materials
Yarns and fibers
Coated fabrics
Textile floor coverings and carpets
Dyed, finished, and wet-processed textiles

Common Test Types

AATCC covers a broad range of textile testing activities, but several categories are especially common in purchasing, development, and quality programs.

Colorfastness: Crocking, laundering, water, perspiration, light, ozone, and drycleaning evaluations are core AATCC categories.

Water and moisture behavior: Water repellency, rain resistance, hydrostatic pressure, absorbency, liquid moisture management, wicking, drying, and water-vapor transmission are major workflow areas.

Appearance and care performance: Wrinkle recovery, smoothness appearance, seam smoothness, crease retention, and dimensional change after laundering are common apparel and home-textile checks.

Exposure and durability: Daylight, carbon-arc, xenon-arc, and UV or moisture weathering methods support exposure-sensitive textile applications.

Chemical and analytical textile checks: Fiber analysis, pH, formaldehyde, extractables, alkali, and related wet-processing measurements are also part of the AATCC portfolio.

How to Read an AATCC Designation

AATCC designations use a document-type prefix followed by a number. The prefix tells you what kind of document you are using.

TM means Test Method, LP means Laboratory Procedure, EP means Evaluation Procedure, and M means Monograph.

The document number identifies the specific method or reference, and some methods use decimal subparts, such as TM16.1, TM16.2, and TM16.3. A year after the designation shows the last technical revision. If the document was later reaffirmed, that can appear in parentheses. A lowercase e indicates editorial changes, and a lowercase t indicates additional technical changes in the same year.

Examples: AATCC TM8, AATCC TM61, AATCC TM127, AATCC TM195, AATCC LP1, AATCC EP6, and AATCC M13.

Featured Standards / Methods / References

These AATCC documents are frequently relevant when textile labs need practical, equipment-linked test workflows.

Reference	What It Covers	Common Use	Common Equipment Direction
AATCC TM8	Measures color transfer from colored textiles during controlled rubbing.	Dry and wet crocking checks for dyed or printed textiles.	Crockmeter, white crock cloth, staining assessment tools.
AATCC TM61	Evaluates colorfastness to laundering by accelerated washing conditions.	Care-performance screening and wash-related color change checks.	Accelerated laundering equipment, standard detergent, rating tools.
AATCC TM127	Measures resistance of a fabric to water penetration under hydrostatic pressure.	Water-resistant and water-repellent fabric evaluation.	Hydrostatic pressure tester, clamping head, pressure controls.
AATCC TM143	Evaluates smoothness appearance, seam smoothness, and crease retention after home laundering.	Garment and washable textile end-product appearance assessment.	Home-laundering setup, appearance evaluation area, 3D replicas.
AATCC TM195	Measures, evaluates, and classifies liquid moisture management properties of textile fabrics.	Performance apparel and comfort-textile moisture transport studies.	Moisture management tester and related specimen-handling accessories.

Standards / Methods by Application Area

AATCC covers multiple textile application areas, so the most relevant method group usually depends on the performance question being asked.

Color and appearance control: TM8, TM61, TM104, TM124, TM128, TM132, TM143, EP1, and EP2 are commonly relevant when the lab needs rubbing, laundering, drycleaning, wrinkle, or visual color-change assessment.

Water and comfort performance: TM22, TM35, TM42, TM127, TM193, TM195, TM197, TM198, TM199, TM200, TM201, and TM204 are relevant for repellency, rain impact, hydrostatic resistance, moisture spread, wicking, drying, and vapor transmission.

Durability and exposure: TM16.1, TM16.2, TM16.3, TM111, TM169, TM186, and TM192 address lightfastness and weathering exposures used for outdoor or exposure-sensitive textiles.

Fiber and wet-processing checks: TM20, TM20A, TM79, TM81, TM97, TM206, and TM209 support fiber identification, absorbency, pH, extractables, formaldehyde, and alkali-related work.

Equipment Commonly Used with These Standards / Methods / References

The equipment path for an AATCC method depends on the property being measured, the specimen form, and the rating approach required by the document.

Equipment Family	Why Relevant	Common AATCC Workflows	Typical Accessories
Crockmeters and rubbing fastness testers	Support controlled rubbing methods for color transfer assessment.	TM8, TM116, TM165	Crock cloth, holders, staining scales, transference scales
Accelerated laundering and textile care-performance equipment	Used for laundering colorfastness and appearance-after-washing workflows.	TM61, LP1, LP2, TM124, TM143	Standard detergent, washing setup, replicas, rating tools
Hydrostatic pressure and water-resistance testers	Measure water penetration resistance under controlled pressure or related wet exposure.	TM127, TM208, TM42, TM35	Clamps, test heads, pressure controls, calibration accessories
Moisture management and wicking testers	Used to classify liquid transport, spreading, wicking, and drying behavior.	TM195, TM197, TM198, TM199, TM200, TM201, TM217	Sensors, specimen plates, timing or imaging tools, conditioning accessories
Spectrophotometers and color-evaluation tools	Support instrumental color measurement and rating of color change or staining.	EP1, EP2, EP6, EP7, EP12, EP14	Gray scales, color standards, software, specimen handling tools
Lightfastness and weathering exposure testers	Used for controlled light and weather exposures in colorfastness and durability work.	TM16.1, TM16.2, TM16.3, TM169, TM186, TM192	Exposure racks, reference materials, monitoring and calibration materials

Before purchasing equipment for an AATCC requirement, it is important to confirm the exact document edition and the required rating materials, detergents, conditioning steps, and specimen format.

Related Standards Organizations or Related Frameworks

AATCC is often used alongside other recognized references in textile and materials work.

ISO: Many AATCC standards inform equivalent ISO textile documents, and some AATCC methods are specifically identified as technically equivalent to ISO methods.

ASTM International: ASTM is relevant when textile labs also work across broader materials programs, and AATCC publishes a monograph summarizing ASTM methods for interlaboratory testing.

International Commission on Illumination (CIE): CIE colorimetry matters when AATCC procedures call for instrumental color measurement and color-difference calculations.

Talk with NextGen Material Testing About AATCC Equipment

If your specification calls for an AATCC method, the right equipment depends on the exact document, the textile product under test, the exposure conditions, and the required rating approach. That is true whether you are setting up crocking, laundering, hydrostatic pressure, moisture-management, weathering, or appearance-evaluation capability.

NextGen Material Testing can help you narrow the equipment family and accessory set that best matches the AATCC workflow you need to run. For purchasing and qualification decisions, always confirm the current AATCC document so the apparatus, reference materials, and reporting details match the method requirement.